They say that all happy families are alike, and the Addams family is the exception that proves the rule.

The Addams family is happy – in a unique, creepy way that involves worms as a spaghetti dish and self-removable eyeballs. And that’s why we love them. Their take on the dysfunctionality of family life is more and more relevant with the passing decades.

Conceived as a comic strip by Charles Addams in the 1930s, the characters got their names in the 1960s for a TV series and, since then, society has seen itself more and more in the Addams’ moping teenagers, self-involved mothers and goofy fathers. It’s no coincidence that teenangers around the world responded so well to Wednesday on Netflix (2022), a tale of contemporary horrors à rebours, where the sense of teenage inner horror (human mortality, climate catastrophe, grotesque adults) is externalized and used as an aesthetic tool.

Pacific Repertory Theatre has been thinking about the Addams family since 2020, says guest director Gary Bolen, who – next to musical director Janice Perl – is running the show. Some members of the cast have been preparing for their roles since then, too.

“Simply one of the best voices I’ve heard on the Monterey Peninsula,” Bolen says about Teagan Cox as Wednesday Addams.

Of Michael Uribes as Gomez, Bolen adds, “He was born to play that role.”

The musical is based on the musical comedy by Andrew Lippa and book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice that opened on Broadway in 2010. In it, Wednesday Addams is ready to get married. And when she choses a normal, sweet guy from a normal, sweet family, her own family faces an existential crisis.

The story concentrates on Gomez Addams’ dilemma: Who does he love and fear more? His terrifying wife Morticia (Corinne Agro) or his stubborn first-born, who asks him to keep her secret safe? The dialogue is lively and very contemporary, and Nicole Cofresi is responsible for wonderful choreography.

“It’s a great team,” Bolen says of the PacRep crew, emphasizing the importance of teamwork and the behind-the-scenes efforts. “It’s like the ocean. You get to see only the water on the surface. But there’s all that mass of water below.”

The Addams Family Musical7:30pm Thursday-Saturday, 4pm Sundays, through Sept. 17. Outdoor Forest Theater, Santa Rita Street and Mountain View Avenue, Carmel. $42/general admission; various discounts apply. 622-0100, pacrep.org.